Johann Beer

Beers' German Winter Nights (1681) is one of the watermarks of German Baroque literature. Although it clearly owes much in motif and style to Grimmelshausen's picaresque novel, Simplicius Simplicissimus, its blend of outrageous student humor and unprecedented realism mark it as a uniquely readable work that has appeal even today. Beer's novel reveals the influence of Spanish and French models in this genre, but it also shows the influence of his native Austrian landscape, the German chapbook, and his wide reading both in adventure literature and books of contemporary literary theory (poetics). The book is perhaps most important as a cultural mirror of the late 17th century, rich in folklore, humor, and details of everyday life.